Each week, we’ll ask our stable of scribes to weigh in on the three most important NBA topics of the day — and then give you a chance to step on the scale, too, in the comments below.

Right now, for your imaginary team: Love or Griffin?

Steve Aschburner:Love. If I’m interested in selling tickets right now – there’s that phrase again – then Griffin would be the way to go. More spectacular. A physical specimen. Lots of “ooh!” and “aah!” to his throwdowns. And the Kia folks are helping to take his profile even higher. But Love has been more productive as a scorer and rebounder and, befitting the position, is the greater grinder. I consider him, frankly, one of the hardest workers in the NBA. Defensively it’s a coin flip for me, and Love will get stymied at the rim in ways Griffin won’t. Then again, that flips around big-time going out to the arc.

Fran Blinebury: Since I’m on the record as wanting fireworks to watch, then Blake Griffin is the explosive choice. But since I suppose even imaginary teams need somebody to do the dirty work, I’ll go with Kevin Love here. Besides, I think he’ll be able to do it longer.

Scott Howard-Cooper: My imaginary team, so my imaginary timeline? Love is better now, but I’m looking big picture, long term, multiple championships and all that, so I go Griffin. He crushed a globe in the palm of his hand mostly on athleticism alone as a rookie, but now, the basketball skills are emerging by the month. His talent is gaining on the freaky physical advantages.

Shaun Powell: Give me Griffin. I suspect Love has already gotten the most out of his abilities. Griffin has more upside. His mid-range jumper will get better. Maybe his passing as well. If I need to choose between Griffin and Love for one season only, give me Love. But permanently? Go with the player guaranteed to get better.

John Schuhmann: Love. Neither is a great individual or help defender at this point, but finishing possessions with a rebound is a big part of defense, and Love is the superior rebounder. Offensively, I’d like to see Love work more inside, but the dramatic difference in both 3-point shooting and free throw shooting (Griffin is barely making half his freebies) makes Love the more efficient scorer.

Sekou Smith: This is an awful choice to have to make. Both of these guys possess many of the things anyone would love in a young power forward. Love is clearly more skilled at this stage of his career and should be, since he has a couple years on Griffin in terms of NBA service. While I absolutely love Griffin’s explosive abilities and the potential of what he could become in the next few years, Love is ready right now to challenge whoever is out there as the top power forward in the game (imaginary and real). His game is that complete, on both ends of the floor. Whatever he lacks in pure, physical talent, he more than makes up for with a work ethic that should be the envy of many of his peers around the league. The guy is a top five scorer and rebounder in the league right now. No other player in the league, at any position, can make that claim.

206 Comments

I’m kind of biased, but I think LaMarcus Aldridge should be in the arguement too. His stats and dunks aren’t as flashy, but he is a quickly improving player and he can nail 20-footers. Not much farther back and he will be draining 3s…

That’s why Love is more dangerous. Griffin gets all the attention, all the hype, all the media and stuff, while Love quietly does his thing. And a comment earlier said that Griffin is better because his team has better record…no, that’s because Clips have 2nd-best PG in NBA. Rubio is great, but he’s no CP3…yet. Griffin is surrounded by mostly better players, but Love is the better player, and the fact that he is underrated makes him even more dangerous. I choose Love.

Injuries, supporting cast, minutes played all are key factors. Love was brought in to rebound, to put back as many points as possible, and to support a superstar, (Big AL Jefferson). Beasely was also brought in to fill that role, while Blake was brought in to anchor the offense and score. Both men are doing that, playing well, If I were coaching I would fight to get either or both men on my team. I watch Love every opportunity I have, it makes a strong fan, Hope these young men have long careers, and stay healthy.

It seems everyone’s argument for Griffin is that once he improves his glaring weakness (scoring from more than 3ft away from the hoop) he will be a much better player. I agree. If ever he found a way to change that he would be better. Unfortunately Love has that ability now. Lastly, all this talk about Griffin being a lock for improvement while Love has reached his best is ignoring the fact that both players are about the same age and Love is the one clearly getting better. Don’t believe me? Love won an award for it last year…

well by logic kobe isn’t the best player in the league because he only got an award for that once… just sayin…
it’s also like saying that the some of the most legendary teams in nba history are undeserving of that title because they never one a championship. it takes more than a medal. but it’s true, while i personally don’t see love evolving much more, there’s simply no telling what will happen in the next 1-5 years. and as a fan, i’m excited as hell to watch these two grow with/against eachother, motivation eachother to be better simply by the media-induced rivalry that has developed, to each be the better player.

I think Love will last longer. Griffin will improve, yes. But I don’t see him maintaining his production into his 30s and maybe even late 20s. It’s the same reason I believe when it’s all said and done, Kevin Durant will have the more successful career over LeBron James (unless perhaps LeBron develops a mean post game). LeBron’s quickness will diminish, but Kevin Durant isn’t going to get any shorter, and he’s a better shooter.

NBA.com this is your fault.. You just can not compare this two. Love, great offence, decent defence, allaround player, and more.. Griffin, better defence, in my opinion, one on one in the paint unstoppable, no shooting and more.. BUT LOVE IS IN HIS FOURTH YEAR IN NBA, GRIFFIN HIS SECOND!! i mean this is big! why don’t you compare griffin at his second year with love at his second? Griffin might as well fix up his shooting two years from now..

The best Blake Griffin fan award goes to Imad Akel. Dude, you got to wake up! Griffin good defensively and offensively than Kevin Love? He can’t even nail a consistent jumper! And one man cannot instantly lift up a team. Who does the clippers have? Chris Paul who is probably a top 3 point guard. The T-wolves? They are a young team and has yet to develop their game. Bottomline is Love has a more all-around game than Griffin. If you have PF’s who can shoot from mid-long range shots (Dirk, TD, KG) You will surely have someone which can stretch the defense. Griffin is very predictable and very limited offensively. Unless he fully develops his mid range game and low post game I’ll give this one to Love.

hard question…the thing about griffin is that he will be almost unguardable if he begins hittin the mid range jump shot consistently…he is already hittin it a lil better this yr than last yr i think…if he hits this it will open the drive and we all know he does that better than Love…he might not get rebounds 2 the same extent as Love or hit the 3 like Love but he has a few moves in the post…he has that patent spin move down…but it is still a tough question cuz Love is a special player himself…wht they both have that is undeniable is how hard they play which everyone should respect clipper/timberwolve fan or not…

Is this even a comparison??….I would definitely pick Love…who would want to compare a player who always plays for highlights to a complete player(Love). Blake is simply overrated. This is not a dunk contest. This is NBA.

I say Love. He’s got all the intangibles and leadership qualities I don’t think Blake has. He’s smarter, savvier and more efficient. He’s a grinder, and I like that. Griffin may be great for the highlight real and have a lot of potential, but his success is dependent on his athleticism and when that diminishes or he gets another injury, he doesn’t have much else left to stand on. I can see Love continuing to be a double-double guy into his thirties like Elton Brand. He’s respected by his coaches and teammates, he is more versatile in his offense, a better defender, a better rebounder, a better all-around player, and I see more longevity in his career.

Yeah! We can’t tell what might happen in the future of these two young players. But as of now. I’d say Love is better. Better rebounder, more efficient scorer, has more range, better free-throw shooter. But man, Griffin’s more fun to watch than Love.

In building a championship team, Kevin Love is a lot better than blake because of his work ethic, rebounding skills and can shoot anywhere in the court… I agree that Blake Griffin is fun to watch but he doesn’t have any veteran skills like Love does. Kevin love plays in Post like Tim.

They’re both great young players, but Kevin Love is the easy choice. Blake is a decent rebounder and he can get up and dunk, but he can’t shoot the rock consistently and he’s proven to be relatively injury prone.

I think they’re both funny dudes, but I take Love because I think he’s a bit funnier – he’s just got a more clever, dry sense of humour, almost Nash-like in a sense, can really do the whole ‘yeah, I’m a superstar, I’m just very special, what of it?’ thing, or the, ‘I don’t take anything seriously’ thing. Blake seems like a funny dude but his humour seems a bit forced, like his 15 foot jump shot, where as KLove’s humour game is very natural, like his 3 point shot. Love it is.

Love have better individual stats, but for me is overrater, he is a bad defender, take alot of rebounds of the hand of his teamates and he did nothing for the team years before, you can say that he was in a awfull team, well all top 5 rockies are. Now he is showing alot more but still for me is not in my top. Blake is not good defensive player but can be alot better, Love is a better shooting, but still Blake have more room to improve, and his dribling skills and athetism makes him a better option for the future.

Some of y’all needs to go watch Woman Handsball, cause you don’t anything about Basketball, Kevin Love is probably one of slowest PF off the dribble in the game right now, doesn’t also help he’s also shorter than most of 4s in the NBA. You know why Kevin Love is overrated, cause Josh McRoberts does the samething with less HYPE, Troy Murphy did a few years ago with less HYPE, even Psycho T can do samething as Kevin Love, Blake is already a tough match up for another PF without blazing footwork. Gasol can’t cover Blake Griffin 1 on 1, Kevin Love won’t gain an inch with his slow motion post moves against Gasol or even McRoberts

Anyone who thinks Griffin is a better long term bet than KL is high, slow (or both). KL is a mix of Tim Duncan and Larry Bird – where you get Duncan’s rebounding skills mixed with Bird’s amazing b’ball IQ and mid-long range jumper. Add to that equation KL’s free-throw qualities and you have a Hall-of-Famer in the making. No flash or show stoppers but a steady, efficient and ultra-reliable force, day-in & ady-out – the likes of Larry Bird, Tim Duncan and Ray Allen. You fan boys can keep Griffin and his fast-burnout (a la Shawn Kemp) style of play. KL will give any team he’s in great reliability, longevity and versatility. … Why the **** are we even having this conversation?

Larry Bird? he doesn’t half of the handling skills of Larry Bird. Maybe he has Tim Duncan + Larry Bird weakness combine. Tim Duncan can shoot over smaller defender,so can Kevin Love? Larry Bird can beat his defender off the dribble, so can Kevin Love? Kevin Love IS NOT A MISMATCH for all the other PF, he scores majority of his points from loose ball fouls. If I’m the other team coach I will let PF play Kevin Love one on one all day long

Choosing Blake Griffin is essentially saying ‘I do not care how good a player is, as long as that player is white I have no interest in him’. These two should not be compared. Blake’s a good scorer and decent rebounder, Kevin Love is one of the best players in the game.

you’re right, i would’ve liked bird, cousy, j. west, stockton, b. walton, steve nash, sabonis (the list goes on) if they were black but their white skin makes their dominance less legendary? are you hearing the foolishness dribbling out of your face right now?

Would like to point out to all of those people trashing Griffin’s outside shooting… Amare Stoudamire had 1 move as a rookie (when he co-won ROY with Yao Ming) and that was drive right and dunk over everybody. 2 things came of that – first a couple of knee surgeries (blake has already lost a season hope he doesn’t have another serious injury but it is likely the way he plays) and second Amare has now learned how to shoot jumpers.

When the Clips fail in the playoffs this year due to Griffin missing free throws or jumpers hopefully he will put in some hard yards and work on his game. He obviously didn’t do that during the lockout. He probably was too busy promoting his name brand and making ridiculous money. Blake is still young and with a sobering playoff loss he might have the incentive to put in the work and get the fundamentals he requires to go with his natural born ability.

K Love has done the work, and will be a borderline all-star for years due to his numbers. However, Love has pretty much reached his ceiling, especially since his new PG will dominate in Minny.

To answer the question Love or Griffin: it all comes down to Griffin and his mindset – if he puts in the work to get a jumper, hit his FT, and work on his footwork and get a post game, then hands down Blake is the better option. Thing is though, most athletic freaks of nature just rely on their natural ability and don’t put in the hours. Look at Lebron, all the abilities you could ask for yet still can’t hit FT in the 4th. The most gifted athletes are not necessarily the best players to win you games. Case in point Derek Fisher, how many championship rings did Kobe get without Fish?

right on point about the amar’e comparison, was exactly what i was thinking

if you’re talking about long term, i would definitely take blake griffin more previously mentioned reasons: more upside. love is definitely a more productive player, but then again we haven’t seen him play on a contender yet, though i have no doubts his production will be similar to what he’s producing right now.
overall- if i wanna win a championship ASAP, kevin love right now, but for the future- blake griffin. i have no doubts that blake will develop into a more complete player, starting with a mid range jumper. developing a jumper alone will open up his offensive game immensely, and if he uses that to his advantage then he can work out with hakeem on post moves.

Seriously? First of all I can’t believe there’s people think Love would be the next Dirk, Love is almost never a mismatch for 90% of NBA forward, he probably can’t even beat Michael Beasley in a 1v1 game, Second of all, if YOU GUYS ACTUALLY watch Minny games, you will know Love gets a great portion points from FT after loose ball during rebounding. Since Love hold the record and made the All-star team, he’s allow to wrestle other PF and get the All-star calls. Griffin on the other hand is also an average rebound in traffic, the MAIN REASON Griffin is limited on offense atm is cause he’s big liability on the FT line. BTW since all of y’all big time NBA EXPERT, answer this than. Why is Blake Griffin GETTING DOUBLE with LIMITED OFFENSE skills while Love is being single cover with 2nd or 3rd best defender?

then answer me this, why ISN’T anyone double teaming Love when he just scored 39 and 31 in his last 2 games? And those loose ball fouls rebounding must means it’s an offense rebound, oh how important are those. And getting your big men into foul trouble and putting your team in the bonus, too bad the Wolves have nobody to attack the rim.

Fisher has 5 rings cause he played with Kobe and Shaq (two freak athletes) for the first 3 and Kobe, Gasol, Odom, and Bynum/Artest AKA World Peace (Thats one athletic freak, 3 skilled 7 footers and a just past his peak athletic freak) Fisher made some big shots (and right now I can only think of one) because Kobe and company made the lakers a championship caliber team, and the other teams put their focus on stopping Kobe. No one is/was afraid of Fisher

I’ll go for Love whether for this season or in a long term. He us not an athletic player like Blake but he is definitely an all around player that he can play inside and out. His shooting and rebounding skills would be a great factor to a team. As you witnessed the championship between Miami and Dallas, the latter team doesn’t have athletic players like what Miami has but look who had the ring?

Okay Love can shoot 3 pointers but that doesnt make him a Dirk. Dirk makes impossible shots that make him impossible to defend. Dirk has transcendent shooting ability, Love is a dominate rebounder and a good scorer, he has a long way to go untill he can get to Dirks level. Dirk was unstoppable in the playoffs last year, but if Lebron played anywhere close to his average level, the heat would have won..

Can’t compare right now. They are all even right now. Love is better shooter, Blake is athletic monster.They both need to get better defensively. Blake is quick, Love is clutch. Blake is more exciting, Loves number is just ridiculous.

LOVEING IT ITS LOVE HES A LEADER WHILE BLAKE IS ONLY A SIDE KICK BLAKE MAY HAVE MORE HIGHLIGHTS BUT LOVE CAN EASILY PUT UP 20 POINTS AND 10 BOARDS NO HATE FOR BLAKE THOUGH HE HAS POTENTIAL IF HE CAN LEARN TO SHOOT BUT IF HE DOESNT ITS GOING TO BE HARD TO FLY LIKE THT WHEN HES 35 OR WATEVER

There is an advance stat that takes into account field goal and free throw %, it is the “true shooting %”. In this, Kevin Love is better than Blake Griffin.

Kevin Love started his first two seasons a bit worse, but he’s got much better. I don’t know how much more he can improve, but he might improve some more.

Blake Griffin relies a bit too much on atleticism. It is early to tell if he’ll get the tools to play with waning atleticism or not.

It is a tough call… I like KL’s fundamental play, outside shot and rebounding, but I also like the high percentage shots that Blake gets. I say Kevin Love, he’s more versatile and his playing style is likely to give him some more longevity.

Paul Millsap of the Jazz outplayed these 2 guys when they played head to head against eachother, just look at the numbers from those games! He also shone against Dirk Nowitzki too! So for me Millsap should at least be in the conversation. A better defender than Griffin, and he has the most steals on the Jazz roster! This guy is also as tough as they come. But, its also nice for my Jazz to slip under the radar as usual. So keep up the good work Paul!

Vince Carter once said that he wishes he hadn’t of dunked so much when he was young… Blake Griffin is going to have some screwed up knees if he doesn’t stop. And who did Minnesota have last year? Kevin Love, Luke Ridnour, Michael Beasley? Really? It’s amazing they won 17. The Clippers only won 32 and they had Mo Williams, Blake Griffin, Baron Davis, Chris Kaman and so many more players. So yeah, last year, if the Clippers had Love, they probably would’ve made the playoffs. But, with Griffin, not even .500 record.

This is so white black based it isnt funny naturally majority white guys are going to pick Love which is understandable. He is probably the best white guy in the league right now which would explain why they are defending him so seriously. All opinions at the end of the day untill they both retire. Love now Blake later

LOVE all the way..yes love is like a Tim duncan (duncan is a cdenter i know) but what love needs is a better coach and the wolves would have a better record…..clippers have CP3 and billups and Butler and even moe williams……all wolves have r 2 new rookies…..in the future Love will be lika a kurk thomas but griffin will be a vince carter……booom shakalakaaa take that a vince carter…

Both are great players, but in the long term you would be stupid to take Love over Griffin. Both are good/great scorers, Love is more polished but shoots a lower percentange, which is ok if you consider his 3point range, but you need to ask yourself how can Love become a better scorer? Shot selection? If Griffin adds a mid range shot defenders will have to play off him more allowing him to drive and score. Rebounding both are already fantastic, Love has better numbers which is not to significant when you consider that Griffin loses some stats to his teammate Jordan, Love has probably maxed out his rebounding potential due to lack of athleticism, Griffin can still get better. With defence both could be better, they are young players but with Griffin’s athletic ability he will become a much better defender than Love can ever be. Griffin is better at getting shots for teammates. Both have an awsome work ethic and both will improve, but Griffin has a much higher curve. Love could be the second best player on a championship team, but even when he was playing out of his mind last year his team only won 17 games, he is not a player who can carry a winning team. Griffin can be that guy, he already turned around the clippers in less than two years of playing. Love will be fondly remembered maybe if he gets to the right team (rubio and love are not going to turn the wolves into a championship caliber team by themselves) end up in the hall of fame, but Love lacks the physical gifts/transcendent skills to be an all time great. The only all time great not from the 50/60s I can think of who wasnt a good athlete was Larry Bird, Love is no Bird in terms of skills. Griffin has the athletic gifts and the work ethic to be an all time great, keep in mind this is his second year playing in the NBA there is plenty of time to improve his skill set, but only age/injury can take away his freakish athleticism. Despite his freak knee injury Griffin is so far not injury prone, and he has a full decade of being a freak athlete. I dont care if Love is better off the bench in 15 years, What I do care about is in a few years Griffin on the right team could be leading a championship caliber team against teams led by Durant, Rose, Lebron or whoever else emerges as an a potential all time great.

I just started reading some of u guys post, and most make sense. i pick love why because hes the better polished player. he can shoot 3s rebound, could be better in low post defense and offense. consistent free throw shooter. now lets break down griffin..hes a freak of nature average post moves great rebounder horrible at free throw line.

now we all know about love’s work ethic he’s gonna keep getting better by the time griffin works on free throws shotting outside of 15ft love will have already strenght up his game think about it guys!

Remember Love been on the league longer. Griffin is doing better than love his second year. Love is better at offense but I would go with Blake because he gets the crowd into the game and when the crowd and fans gets into the game the team plays better, jump shots start falling down. It make the game go your way when the crowd screaming for you. This is Love fourth year and blake only been in here for two. Griffin will develop that game shot. It took Love three years to start averaging over 20 . Blake had that much in his first season. Right now I would take Blake because you need fans and you need people to like your team. I think Blake will get a championship before Love because more players want to play with Blake. And Blake doesn’t need another player for him to score , most of his points come from him drawing a foul , shooting free thorws or him hustling down the court for an open layup. SO it depends on what type of team you want. If you want to revolve the team around a scoring and rebounding pf then Love , if you want a fast and high flyer pf then blake.

Nice to have the crowd screaming for you and whatnot but not every game is played at home. So basically, by that logic, if it’s a Game 7 on the other teams floor, Blake Griffins team would be screwed. Since home crowd participation is the spinach to his Popeye. Also, you say it took Kevin Love 3 years to average 20 pts a game and Blake did it in his 1st year? Maybe that had something to do with the fact that Blake has been a starter since he came to the NBA. To a team that was looking for any kinda lifeline to be relevant for the 1st time since…. well, ever! In walks a buff 6’10 beast with LeBron-like hops. Nuff said, you’re starting. Kevin Love’s 1st few seasons?? he was a bench player cuz the powers that be in minnesota didn’t think a hardworking, non-flashy 6’10 rebounding machine would sell tickets, be the face of the franchise or make the team relevant again. See what happened with Rubio? A few electrifying plays and he’s been a starter ever since. Doesn’t mean he’s better than Chris Paul. Just Sayin

definitly blake griffin. both are excellent rebounders although griffin is competing with jordan for rebounds unlike love. also love takes much more shots to get the same scoring as griffin, on my team i want efficiancy and volume shooter will get points. love is getting points shooting under 50% as a big man which is not good at all. therefore griffin wins

Why does everyone keep saying that Love is a championship player? Last time I checked, the Clippers currently have a winning record and the Timberwolves don’t. You may say, “Oh, it’s because the Clips have Chris Paul now,” but they also finished 32-50 last year compared with the Wolves’ 17-65. I don’t see Minnesota winning any championships. Maybe far off in the future, but the Clippers can get there too. That argument is just irrelevant.

This is a close call.
Griffin takes it in in asists per game with 2.9 over Love’s 1.7, with BPG with .06 over Love’s at .05, FG% 51% to Love’s 42%, while playing almost 4 minutes less.

Love has him with PPG at 24.9 over Griffin’s 21, RPG with 13.9 over Griffins 11.5, FT% with 79.7% compared to Griffin’s 51.4%, 3% with 39.1 compared to Griffins 1-1 all season long, but he does play almost 4 minutes more a game.

MY PICK WOULD BE LOVE OVER GRIFFIN FOR HIS MORE COMPLETE GAME, WE HAVE TO REMEMBER HE PLAYS ALMOST 40 MINUTES A NIGHT AND IS STILL ABLE TO PUT THOES NUMBERS UP NIGHT IN AND NIGHT OUT. Ticket sales may be lower but thats whay you bring in other to help………….. like a Ricky Rubio witch I may add in the most entertaing Point gaurd this game has seen since Steve Nash in 2004-5-6 with the suns.
………………………………GO CHRIS BOSH…………..AND THE HEAT…………………………..CHAMPS

This is tough. At first I was thinking Love for the same reasons you all were — more well-rounded game, better J, more range, better rebounding. And I still have to take him probably, but one thing to remember is that Blake (I believe) probably gets a lot of double-teams on D. Without those, imagine what he could do one-on-one!!! So we may not be seeing truly all of how good Blake is. People have watched film and are starting to get the idea of how he plays, so they double team him so he can’t get to the rim, cause one on one he will take it hard to thebasket every time. I don’t know, that’s just a guess I haven’t watched a lot of basketball, I’ll admit, but it makes sense to me. Griffin and Love are both solid players — neither one stands out as way better than the other.

LaMarcus Aldridge is not better than Kevin Love lol. I’d take him over Blake but not Kevin. I’m born and raised in Oregon by the way so I’m putting my Blazer’s bias aside. Put Kevin Love on the Blazers and Aldridge on the Wolves and I’m pretty sure the Wolves wouldn’t be as good and the Blazers would be way better.

Let’s look at this from a CURRENT perspective of right now. Because long term we all know if Blake keeps playing the way he does right now he’s going to get worse over-time because of his reckless style use of his body.
Shooting mid-long range: Love obviously lol
Post-Scoring: Hard to decide you guys help me weight in on it. I’m feeling Blake on this one though :S?
Defense: Fairly even but Love seems to be able to grab a larger amount of rebounds which is evidence of better defensive positioning.
Rebounding: Both great but LOVE BY FAR. Griffin just out jumps his opponent, Love lacks athleticism but has tremendous instinct and intelligence for being able to position himself and read a play before it happens.
Impact: Well Blake seems to draw a lot of attention from the defense but this can hurt him because people will play closer to him, making it harder for him to develop a jumper, where Love doesn’t really demand double-teams because on some plays he out on the perimeter draining three’s (which he does quite well btw) and when he’s on the inside he has a handful of post moves but he’s no Bosh or Tim Duncan at the moment. But let’s be reminded that Love is in the Top 5 for scoring and Rebounding right now where as Blake is barely in the Top 5 for rebounding.

Guys, why would you fight over this? Im my eyes they’re both future HOF players. I admit that love has a lot more options as blake. But Blake is one of the hardest workers in the game at this moment. And by that I don’t mean in the games. I mean in practise. He Will improve his shooting ability. I doubt he will ever be a 3-point shooter like love, but he will get a decent or ,if everything goes the way he plans, a great half range shot. Also i think he’ss already a decent defender, but for the moment he’s lucky to have a guy like Deandre next to him. But he’ll also improve that part of his game. I can imagine it isn’t easy to adapt to defending on Nba players, so just give him some time. And about the injury Blake had. It’s BS to suggest he’ll get a lot of injuries. The dude broke his kneecap. That isn’t a suggestion that he’ll get a lot of injuries. It’s just a fact that he had bad luck that time and I believe we’re going to see jim achieve great things. I know I didn’t say much about Love, but that’s just because he already has a lot of options in his game. He has his shot but i’m sure he could still improve. He’s already a good defender. Not a great defender, but his rebounding skills are awesome. But like i said if they play their cards right, we’re looking at 2 future HOF-players.

Are you kidding me? Of course Love this isn’t even a comparison. One is a highlight player, but Love will help out your team in all categories and will benefit your team much more than blake griffin. The only reason people pay attention to him is because he is very athletic and has good highlights. I mean even Josh Smith is better than Griffin, who in his youth was a lot like Griffin. But, Smith has gotten smarter as a player and is playing better. That would have been a better comparison, don’t compare Griffin to the best Power Forward in the league, it’s an insult to Love.

how do you stat pad rebounds? oh right, by outbounding the OTHER team. Rebounding is not a stat you share with your team, unlike scoring where u share the rock. oh blake took 22 shot attempts tonight for 26 points while love took 16 for 31.

Love is a better all-around player…by far. His game is based on his skills only, he can only get better with time and his career will last longer since he doesn’t need athleticism like Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, etc. His stats are already better then Blake…Both players have two different style while playing the same position, but if I was a coach and I had to pick one of them, I’d go with Kevin Love…He plays better then Griffin right now and he will keep playing better then Blake no matter how much he improves…

Funny that all white writers here picked Love and all black writers picked Griffin. It’s actually understandable that a great white player has been expected by the white fans. Just like the pressure and expectation that international players get all the time.

But I’ll pick Griffin any time any day because his ability to play above the rim and hurt the other team’s defense. Remember the game T-Wolves played against Clippers couple of days ago? Neither of these two had a great shooting game, but Griffin who shot 7/17 kept attacking the basket and eventually create 11 free throw attempts and got Milicic who played a amazing game fouled out. Meantime, Love struggled with his way of playing below the rim and had a 5/16 game. besides the 2/3 beyond the 3 point line, he only shot 3/13 from inside the line.

Griffin is an easy pick cuz even without a good coach or teammate like Chris Paul, he’s still able to give you 20+10, 50% FG, and about 8 FTA per game. Giving him some good guys could easily means a contender team. If I wanna build a team around Love, then I need a coach like Adelman who has a mature system and coaching style. And I need more guys who can attack the basket, not just a few outside shooters. See how Adelman set up that two men screen for Love before the final shot in that game? That’s how he could maximize his ability from a great coach. Without that screen, DeAndre Jordan would have chased him down and change things a little bit since Love is not a quick launcher.

That’s why in Love’s first 3 seasons, his team has never won more than 25 games. Cuz he needs more to become “the one” you want him to be. Griffin played only one season and his team got 32 wins. They just couldn’t win on the road. So by the end of the day, I’ll take Griffin cuz he makes things look easy. But Love is no doubt a close second due to his work ethic, rebounding ability, the shot range and improving defense.

I am amazed how’d you know the blacks and whites in this forum.
Put it this way, If Love and Blake switched teams right now, Clippers will be a championship team. And Wolves will go back to being a lottery team.

Why do people keep mentioning Shawn Kemp? First of all, shawn kemp is underrated and people who talk about him probably never even seen more than his youtube highlights…which by the way are way better than what blake griffins ever will be…Kemp was a better player than Love or Griffin. He was arguably the MVP of a 6 game championship series against Michael frickin Jordan, possibly the best player ever on on the best team ever.

I know he’s that good. Been a Seattle fan during Payton-Kemp era, rooting for them against the Bulls. But once Kemp’s explosiveness was lost, so are the rest of his skills. This is just the really for players who only uses explosiveness and athleticism in the NBA. Sad fact.

Love… have your team based on an explosive player like Vince Carter, Kemp and Amare and you’ll know where you’ll be heading🙂. As for Love’s skills, he’d just need a good team around him. He may not be the team’s franchise player, but he sure has the skills you’d want to win championships.

Can you say Shawn Kemp? Kevin Love by far, yea Griffin is freakishly athletic but what happens when that athleticism is gone? Yes his skill set has developed but no where near Loves. Long term Kevin Love is the easy choice. Look what happened to Shawn Kemp when his athleticism was gone. Never heard from again. Love can shoot the three and rebound and is not very athletic so when his agility expires his basketball I.Q. and nack for getting the ball will remain

Why do people keep saying that Griffin is a great defender?
He is average at best. 0.6 stls and 0.6 blocks per game don’t really stand out as a “great” defender as some of the folks here claim him to be. it’s not like he hustles on defensive end like shane battier as he’s too busy running back for a slam as soon as an opponent takes a shot. and as a scorer, it’s working out for him, because he’s freakishly athletic, but as far as shooting goes, it’s a different story. shooting is a mechanical art – he’s shooting .500 now and he’s not gonna be shooting .700 ever in his career unless he completely changes his shooting mechanicism (which he won’t, bc it’s not that simple)

Well, based on their offensive and defensive ratings, the edge go to Love.
Love – ORtg and DRtg is 112 and 99
Griffin – ORtg and DRtg is 103 and 103
In other words Love not only make his team better offensively when he’s on the court, but also better defensively. Love reminds me of Chris Webber or a young Tim Duncan. Let’s not forget, Love had to wait some time to actually develop seeing as Al Jefferson and that other big man (who name I can’t remember) had him coming off the bench.

Love is currently better and will have a better career than Griffin simply because of the styles of their games. It does not matter who is a better leader and who can take over games better because that is not traditionally the role for the power forward position. Look back into NBA history and count how many teams had a Power Forward lead them to a championship? It has only been done by Tim Duncan who is half center and is arguably the best PF of all time. Dirk won a title but is he REALLY a PF….they just put him in the PF slot because he dont fit anywhere else. Those 2 examples are enigmas…Blake Griffin is more like a Traditional PF….this means its not appropriate that the team be built around him as the traditional PF position is not naturally versatile enough to give the player the opportunity to lead a team and take over a game when needed. Because Kevin Love is a less traditional PF but still gets all star PF stats…this gives him more opportunity to lead a team or take over a game regardless if that is his personality. Fake it. LAC did the right thing is getting Cris Paul and now that team is being built around Chris Paul….they may be a contender soon. Timberwolves need a veteran AS caliber shooting guard and with Rubio leading them , they may contend in the future if they dont blow up their team. Kevin Love is a better current and long term pink at the PF position.

All I see in Griffin is that he has the potential to be as good as Love is right now. I cant imagine Griffin ever being better than 25 and 14 a game this season..Plus Love is 20% better at the free throw line..

Love, puts up great numbers but, at the end of the day he can only be a 2 or 3rd guy at best on your team. He has a lot of skill, but he cannot when you a championship nor take over the game. If anyone saw the game between the Clippers and the Wolves, they wouldn’t even let Love guard Blake ( because he can’t stay with him). They put the much larger Darko Milic on Blake and Blake when right at him. Kevin love’s points came off alot of give me free throws, and outside shots. He could do nothing in the post, on a week team like the Timberwolves what love does seems great, but on a true championship contending team you will see his contribution and numbers go down. If it wasn’t for Rubio and a bunch of questionable calls Love would not look like a hero. Blake Griffin may look like just dunker now but, he has worked hard to become that, and Blake works just as hard as Kevin Love, and his influence on the game is much greater. Blake will be better in the long run, and he is better now.

Kevin Love is better than Blake Griffin because everything Blake does, Love does it better (excluding dunking). He is also more versatile, and 3 years more experienced than Griffin while being only 1 year older. Kevin Love will continue to be better than Blake Griffin in the future because:
Blake’s playing style will get him more injuries over the years and he will play less games than Love. Do not forget that Blake already has had a broken knee. Blake will also have to change and adapt his game at some point in his career when the athleticism goes. On the other hand, Kevin Love has already shown the intelligence to lose weight while still being able to get high rebound numbers without using athleticism. This gives him less chance for injuries and adds more years to his career. Love’s style of play is lower to the ground, more efficient and more fundamental. He has go to moves and can shoot from anywhere. He will not have to alter his game when he gets older or less athletic. Because of these reasons I would say it is more realistic that he will have the longer, more productive and consistent career than Blake…more years and more games equals more chances to win rings.
If I was a GM, this is how I would look at it.

you really don’t know what you’re on about. love wasn’t even happy with the commotion around his double-double streak. he goes out and gets them because he plays hard, not because he wants solo accolades. griffin is fun to watch, but dont hate on k-love just because he’s better than your man crush.

Do you even watch the Timeberwolves? Love has been the only good player the last couple years and 2 years ago Kurt Rambis didn’t even give him significant playing time. With Adelman coaching and finally having good guards to feed Love, the Wolves look a lot better. Maybe not playoffs this year, but they are getting close to where they used to be with Garnett. Now as a Wolves fan, I am happy for that, but I am really not looking forward to first round losses for what 6 consecutive years? haha

The thing is though, Griffin put up his numbers after he came back from his injury. Oden only showed brief glimpses of what he was supposed to be between his injuries. Griffin not only came back, he came back in style.

Blake has more than just dunks. he has a post up game, he has the baby hook, and he is developing his mid range jumper. Yea he doesnt have the three like kevin love does, but give him time and i bet his midrange jumper will become more efficient thatn love’s three

blake is developing what love is already good at right now. plus he needs someone to help him score while love does not. blake wasnt scoring this good without cp3. if you trade love and griffin, griffin would be nothing while love will be much better than him

Um…Wow. Why is this even a debate? Without a doubt its Blake Griffin!!! Rebounds I give the edge to Kevin Love…But come on. Blake Griffin is no slouch rebounding the ball! Kevin Love even has more range then Blake Griffin…but lets be honest, a power-forward constantly popping out for three is a welcoming thing for oppositions. Blake Griffin is plays MORE like a rough version of a “Shawn Kemp”..which is the reason The Clippers are even MORE attractive then My team the Lakers. Blake Griffin is a few Post Moves and a more consistent mid-range jumper short of being ABSOLUTELY UNSTOPPABLE! And lets be real…Aint NOBODY rushing to ticket master cause Kevin Love is in town! All-signs point to Blake. And one more thing….Wolves are better this year then last year, however Kevin Love still has not made that jump where he is Making his teammates Better…You still can play Kevin man to man….try that with Blake. IT CANT HAPPEN.

Blake will take a lot of espn highlights, but Love will win more games. Without Clippers new acquisitions, they’ll still be a lottery team. If Clips make the playoffs, they will definitely not reach the second round.

I will void your argument (in advance) that the only reason Griffin wins more games is because of a better team, by the counter argument that Love couldn’t make his team good enough to attract any decent players.

you are mentally retarded i swear to god. griffin’s jumper is even worse then his free throw shooting. and if you dont know that griffin cant even make free throws you know nothing about him except that he can jump. also if u think having a pf shooting three pointers well is a an advantage for the other team you know nothing about basketball either

love went 5-5 on 3s yesterday and 4-6 today. is that really a welcoming thing for the opposition? love is a much better kick out man because he can actually shoot, griffin’s jumper is absolutely terrible.

yes both guys are unique. Both have different ability, way of performing their games. Anyway, the question is who you would rather pick if you are to start a franchise? Or who would you rather have in your team? I’d say, Love… Love can score both in, perimeter and outside. He could rebound and defend well. He has the ability both ends of the floor. Blake ofcorz is great but I’d rather have Love in my team.

As others have said, Love is more talented and better rounded. Blake is good now – slightly overrated in my opinion, but his game is predicated on his athelticism which will diminish in his 30’s whereas Love will still have talent and could be the next Tim Duncan, but only better.

Griffin came into the league and sat out one season – this is the next Greg Oden in the make. Once the injury bug bites him he wont be able to put up those numbers anymore as he relies on his athleticism and nothing else. He will degrade to a second tier player like J-Rich…

Love could become a role player once his physical abilities start to decline and he wont hurt his team with poor shooting from the free throw line. If he becomes a better shooter, he will be Nowitzki 2.0 and those players are championship material.

Bargnani will be Nowitzki 2.0 and not Love … by the way i think at the moment Love is better than Griffin.Of course Griffin is more athletic an fun to watch, but with love is always a double-double game…However Bargnani is better than both of them..

I want to emphasize that Love is not a great defender.
And also, his presence in the post offensively is not such a threat. It can be a mismatch vs. a lot of PFs, but it’s not a constant threat.

Griffin’s presence is always felt in the post both defensively and offensively. He was very dominant last year for a rookie, slowed down abit this year (coz Paul is leading now), but he’s yet to reach the top of his game.

I have to say too that Blake at his current state is not a good defender, the Clippers team overall is not good. I remember watching once the commetary team discuss on this issue, they said the Clippers are a great blocking team, but blocks mean your defense is lacking, because you allowed drives and shots. Another thing is that Blake and Jordan kinda are a little bit too into slam dunks, what I mean is you often see them at the half court line ready for a fastbreak instead of securing defensive rebounds and allowing other teams easy offensive rebounds. But I do think Griffen can develop a jumpshot, we will have to see how things go.

Love cannot take over games…..He is one of the few PFs ever played that can take a 3pt range shot in the last second and punishing the other team by not rotating out to stop him. (let’s not forget Tim Duncan did it a few years ago)…And all I am saying is, potential is potential, it is not a must happen. If you want to argue this point, read moneyball by Michael Lewis….Defensively it is all built from experience and hard work, and I think Love will do a better job at it since he plays smart basketball, he’s already got great work ethics, and he dominates the board by great box-out and hustle, not by jumping high.

Its called basketball not run and jump. (ahh i love that quote)
The man can’t shoot how is that great offense? Take over and lead the team? Hes not just going to create offense except off of someone else. Thats not called great offense.

i think by next season he’ll be a midrange threat, and he has ball handling skills that most 4 players envy gaurds for. it’s only his 2nd season, and not even a full one at that. i’ve seen him create plenty of scoring oppurtunities for him self, off post-drives, spin moves, etc. you gotta remember that even the greatest in history weren’t top dogs on day 1.

sorry can’t help it – the name imad akel itself doesn’t sound like he knows basketball nor even the players that well. he just get a hard on everytime blake dunks the ball. blake is exciting to watch but love would win a lot of games for a team.

Wow I really didn’t expect the majority to favor Love or Griffin, let alone such an overwhelming majority…

I still think it’s self evident that Griffin is better.

Griffin did better by his team last year. Love only did well by his own stats, which is great if you want to be traded. But not so cool for your losing franchise that will never stand a chance at luring players like CP3 with such lousy team records.

I don’t know how you guys are seeing Love as having so much better offense. Griffin has 21PPG on 50% shooting to love’s 25PPG on 43% shooting.

If you are counting on griffin’s scoring to drop in the future because he will lose his athletic ability, then the bulls might as well trade Derrick Rose for Kevin Love right now.

Anyway, Griffin vs. Love, accomplishment-wise so far, Griffin is winning. He’s more popular, he’s won more games, he got rookie of the year by a landslide last year, and he’s headed for the playoffs this year.

Can’t help but to point out this: “I don’t know how you guys are seeing Love as having so much better offense. Griffin has 21PPG on 50% shooting to love’s 25PPG on 43% shooting.” –> For starters, does Griffin shoot three-pointers? For seconds, does Griffin have a go-to move in the low post, other than jumping over anybody?… Oh, by the way, let me dissect this: “Anyway, Griffin vs. Love, accomplishment-wise so far, Griffin is winning. He’s more popular [no wonder, popularity is got with flashy plays, that’s why Tim Duncan has never been THE most popular player, same will happen to Love], he’s won more games [of course, the Clippers had a better supporting cast than the T-Wolves], he got rookie of the year by a landslide last year [if you read the article, you would have seen that Derrick Rose was drafted THE SAME YEAR as Kevin Love…], and he’s headed for the playoffs this year.” Of course, over the long haul, Griffin MIGHT be better than Love. Right now? Kevin Love, for sure!

u know who the clippers had last year right? bdavis/mo williams is an ex all-star. so is chris kaman. and eric gordon is not too shabby himself. and this year, you already know who they have. so griffin’s team did better. who does the wolve’s have? darko malicic?

I understand that Love has a lower shooting percentage than Griffin. Thats because Love shoots threes! Too many sometimes but he still hits at a good clip from outside for a big man. To say that its self evident that Griffin is better than Love is ridiculous. Both are good. Griffin is the better athlete, while Love is the better basketball player.

so what he’s on the wolves? the dude averages 15 rebounds a game, and last time i checked, that’s a stat that you have to fight off the OTHER team to get. he can also shoot and make his free throws, like someone named Dirk. So why can’t your PF be your offense?

Love can do what he’s doing when he’s 32. I don’t think Griff can do what he’s doing past 30, and as we don;t know if he’ll adapt to his boduy’s limitations like MJ did,. Love would be the safer bet long-term. Rings on fingers beats bums on seats.

Blake is NOT overrated. Overrated is when people think he’s better than he really is. Judging by the comments above, most people would take Love over Griffin right now. How is that overrated? He gets a lot of air time (pun intended) simply because he is fun to watch. You must admit Clippers games are suddenly fun to watch now.

Thing is, Griffin’s physical talent means certain moves are easier for him. He hasn’t had to work as hard on certain fundamentals just to get to the NBA. It remains to be seen if his work ethic brings him up another notch, but if it does, look out.

i agree with roy about winning. love is a better all around player than griffin. blake has ONLY his jumping abilities. doesnt have a jumper or shooting skills to save him. you need another player in order to make griffin score but for love he can score by himself

For this season I will go for Love…great performance and hard work but If you think of the future, Griffin has the slight edge… He has a superstar quality that a team can easily build on it…and if you think about the Clippers right now they have all the weapons to finish on the top right now and could probably reach the finals…chemistry is building!

Is that so difficult to choose?? Apparently Love is a better choice than Griffin! Love can rebound more and can score more. Amazing thing is he is a sharp 3-pt shooter. Besides Griffin got injured a whole season.